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June 3, 2007
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For those who hadn't noticed, our last couple Best Bet locations have been Southern Hemisphere locations and for good reason:
this is the time of year that storm activity weakens in the Northern Hemisphere oceans of the world (summertime) and strengthens in the Southern Hemisphere oceans (wintertime). And if you're up on your Surfology 101 you know well that stronger storms equal larger waves and that's exactly what we're looking for here.
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One of the other great things about Indonesia - particularly the Mentawais -- is that if the wind is wrong for one spot, if you have the means you can move around a corner and often find offshore perfection. In Bali, the tradewinds blow southeast this time of year, creating epic, all-day offshores at the Bukit Peninsula's many left reefs, including Uluwatu, Padang Padang and Bingin. G-Land, Java's roaring leftander is offshore all month as well. The largest and most consistent surf in Indonesia is typically found at the direct and unobstructed SW facing spots of Bali, West Java and Southern Sumatra. While the outlying islands to the north (Telos, North Sumatra, etc) and south (Timor, Lombok, etc) are typically less consistent they also can offer a less crowded alternative. Good luck! --Kevin Wallis *** LOOKING BACK AT BEST BET, MAY '07: THE SOUTH PACIFIC One of the other great things about Indonesia - particularly the Mentawais -- is that if the wind is wrong for one spot, if you have the means you can move around a corner and often find offshore perfection.
The first days of May continued with a solid run of back-to-back S swells that filtered through the South Pacific islands with plenty of playful waves to be found. But this energy dropped out just in time for the waiting period of the main event May 4th-16th. Surfline forecasters, Kevin Wallis and Sean Collins, were hard at work as the proudly sponsored forecast team of the contest. Upon looking into their crystal ball, the ever so hoped for epic conditions were not shaping up. A slow run of previous storm activity kept small swell energy in the water and therefore not enough to run the contest for nearly the entire waiting period. Nonetheless, May was not going to make me look like a chump for picking the South Pacific as the 'Best Bet'. So she got her act together and developed a very strong fetch (see slide X) south of New Zealand the weekend of the 12th-13th. With a small extension of the contest, the WCT event was able to end on a good note as a new SW groundswell started to fill in on the 16th. Not to mention the insane freesurfing that took place in serious Teahupoo immediately after as this SW energy peaked on the 17th-18th. After the contest curse with that lull from the 4th-16th, the rest of May unfolded nicely with a series of back-to-back pulses of large SW and S groundswells that offered solid surf throughout the South Pacific. Now, let's see what June has in-store for us! -Jonathan Warren SURFLINE HOME PAGE MORE TRAVEL |
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